


To Infinity and Beyond

by hermione_vader



Series: Plastic Armor [7]
Category: DCU, Deadpool (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Toy Story Series (Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-24
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 17:09:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/652535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermione_vader/pseuds/hermione_vader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avengers/Toy Story fusion AU.  After the dump, the toys have to figure out where they belong, and Loki has to tie a few things up.  Part 7 in the Plastic Armor series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 Loki lead everyone up the stairs after they all hopped off the garbage truck and snuck through the living room window.  He was surprised that Steve didn't take charge, but the Captain had fallen to the back of the line when they arrived at the house.  Hamm, Thor, and a few of the others had whispered that Steve looked exhausted after escaping the dump.  Perhaps he was, but Loki knew that wasn't why he'd fallen back.  He'd glimpsed the Captain's face---he was plotting.  His heroic little mind was still concocting some scheme to keep them all together.  Or most of them, at least.  Loki could never assume he would be included, though he had been so far.    
  
They crept up the stairs unnoticed, except when Phil's old dachshund Buster sniffed them lazily at the very top.  That round, black nose nudged Loki's cape and he stared up at Buster's graying jowls, no longer panting happily as they had the day Loki ended up with tooth marks on his boots.  All traces of puppy were lost to time now.  Loki swore he heard his joints squeak as he led the other toys around Buster and across the hallway.  
  
Then they heard footsteps.  
  
"Loki, you got marchin' orders?" Hamm asked.  So many eyes fixed on him.  A sharp tingle rushed through Loki's joints.  
  
"Duck!  Behind here!" Loki crept behind the large, dying fern that Phil's mother refused to get rid of.  There was barely enough room for all of them, but just enough to protect them as Darcy's sneakers plodded down the hall.  
  
Then they finally reached Phil's bedroom, where a new cardboard box sat in the middle of the floor.  Hulk climbed into the box first.  
  
"IT EMPTY."  
  
"Perfect." Loki climbed up on Phil's desk chair and leapt in.  The others followed suit and rearranged themselves as so that Thor and Hamm flanked him and everyone leaned against the box's walls while Hulk sat in the middle.  
  
Steve smiled down from the edge of the desk chair, once again the capable commander.  "Well, guys, we made it back."  He raised his head and surveyed the room.  "We've had some great times here."  
  
"We have, indeed, but I believe we're ready for the attic," Loki told him.  Time in the attic could be useful.  He could hatch a proper plan up there.  
  
"That's great, Loki, but I've got another idea," Steve said as he brandished a thick, black Sharpie.  Loki peered up as Steve slapped a Post-It note on the box and scrawled something with the Sharpie.  
  
"Where else might we go?" Thor asked.  
  
Steve just grinned and hopped down into the box.  
  
Loki leaned against the cardboard as Thor shuffled back and forth while they waited for something.  For anything.  Just as they had in that chest for the past seven years.  Perhaps they would faded away into piles of dust waiting for Phil to return.  The last thing that would ring through their ears would be Hamm's hooves clicking together until they crumbled into nothing with everything else.  In the first few years, Loki would have told this to everyone, relishing the horror that would spread across everyone's faces, save for Hamm, who would roll his eyes, and Steve, who would scrunch his face into the most exquisite scowl.  But that was before.  Before the chest.  Before the garage sales.  Before "goodbye" stopped being a far-off dream.

Finally, footsteps plodded into the room, so much heavier than the incessant patter Loki heard after Phil unwrapped him.  Loki peered up past the flaps and saw Phil's hand hovering over the top of the box.  He hadn't grown very tall, but he seemed so absurdly big now.    
  
Philpushed the left flap open and smiled down at everyone for the first time in eons.  Then he pulled the Post-It note off the box flap.  After he scanned it, his head turned towards the door.  "Oh, great idea!  Thanks, Mom!"  
  
The box lurched as Phil lifted it, and then the plodding began to echo again.  Loki heard a raspy bark as he stared up at the hall ceiling and he could imagine Buster's droopy face cocked to the side in confusion as his master took his favorite chew toys away.  He heard a few more yelping rasps while the box shook as Phil descended the stairs and the front door clicked open.  Loki and Hamm exchanged glances.  It might never click open for them again.  
  
"So, uh, Captain," Hamm began, "where the heck are you taking us exactly?"  
  
Steve's eyes darted around the box and the corners of his mouth quirked upward.  "You'll see.  It's a surprise."  
  
"We are in no fit state to be surprised, Captain!" Thor exclaimed.  Loki nodded, resting his hand on his brother's shoulder.  
  
A sharp image flashed in Loki's mind after Steve spoke: a return to Sunnyside.  Some dark corner of his brain thought that Steve might leave them there as payback for the years of isanity they'd foisted on him.  They'd spending their days toiling under the Justice League's thumb while he rode off to college with Phil.  But a much larger part knew Steve could never bear to have such intentions.  Perhaps he'd take them there to rebuild it, but Loki knew they would face resistance, and he had no idea if the others had any fight in them after the incident at the dump.  A battle against the Justice League might not be as righteous and brave as Steve and Tony surely believed.  It might be a suicide mission.  
  
"I refuse to return to that hellhole of a daycare," Loki blurted out.  
  
Steve shook his head.  "That's not the surprise."  
  
Thor's hand squeezed Loki's.  "I will submit myself to The Box in your stead this time, brother.  I am sorry I failed to do so before."  
  
Loki nodded and did not let go as the box jolted downward onto what he assumed was the minivan's floor.  He tried to suppress the images of Tony's red hand wrapped around his throat, thrusting him to the ground, of Wonder Woman's sad smile when Superman threw him into his cage, but they still swirled around, dancing against the cardboard walls while the car's newly-started engine roared in his ears.  And he could not purge the thought of Steve turning to him, making him second-in-command in Tony's absence.  Loki had always imagined how he'd grasped authority if it ever lay before him, and whispering that the coast was clear while disguised in a paper bag had not been an option.  He'd felt no glory, only pressure.  Perhaps if the circumstances had...No.  Loki shut his eyes.  Sunnyside was gone.  Done with forever, no matter where he ended up now.

Suddenly, a fortunate whisper rose above the minivan's rumbling.  
  
"So I get to thinkin': what about those toys from the dump?  The red-and-black guy, the Bucky, and the masked guy and the rest of 'em.  What happens to 'em now?" Hamm asked.  
  
"You know the answer.  They go back to their child," Mystique answered.  "They play with him until he's grown."  
  
"Yeah, I get that, but they've met _us_.  How can they just go on when they've seen what's waitin' for 'em now?"  
  
"You'll see," Steve murmured.  Loki could just make out a satisfied grin on the Captain's face.  
  
"Eh, I guess you're right, Cap..." Hamm began.  "What d'you mean, we'll see?"  
  
"You'll see."  
  
"We'll see what?  I cannot take that kind of tension, Captain!" Thor protested.  
  
"Just relax, big guy," Tony hissed.  "We're going to be fine."  
  
"But how do you know?" Thor asked, squeezing Loki's hand harder.    
  
"Yes, how _do_ you know?" Loki heard himself say.  
  
Tony shrugged.  "I don't.  But I know Steve does."  
  
"Of course you do," Loki replied.  He could almost hear all the eyes shift and fasten on him.  "You had better not muck this up, Steve."  
  
"He won't."  Tony's voice rang throughout the box and the car jerked to a stop.  
  
Loki spied Phil through the cracks in the box's flaps, turning back, blinking.  Then he pushed the flaps open, and his face hung over them, peering down with his brow raised in confusion, but his eyes lit up with some strange inspiration.  Everyone else stared at the walls, going completely stiff.  Loki froze but kept his gaze upward.  Phil's hand dipped down, grabbing at air until it wrapped around Tony's legs.  Phil picked his old favorite up and held him near his ear.  Then he held Tony out and stared.  The air in the box became heavy as Loki watched Phil put his Iron Man back.  
  
"Nah," Phil told himself, chuckling.  All of the toys stared at each other as he turned around and started the car again.  
  
Loki spent the rest of the drive staring up at the driver's seat, waiting for Phil to have another revelation.  They'd kept their secret for so many years, only to nearly botch it at the end.  He wanted to blame Tony, but Loki knew any of them could have done it.  He wondered if any other children's toys had ever been caught.  What would happen if they had been discovered?  Perhaps the Earth would crack open because they'd have upset the world's natural order.  But wondering was useless because Phil never looked back.  They were safe.  For the moment.

Finally, the car went into park and the box lurched upward again.  Everyone bounced slightly as Phil carried them forward to some unknown end.  Judging by the trees, they were not at Sunnyside.  As far as Loki could tell, Phil had brought them to someone's yard.  Loki hoped the house contained children and not some eccentric collector who would shove them into glass display cases.  The chew marks on his feet weren't conducive to display, anyway.  
  
Phil crouched down slightly, but Loki could not see who he was addressing.  "Hi, are you Nick?"  He paused.  "I hear you take great care of your toys.  These are my toys, but I'm going away now.  Would you like to take care of them for me?"  
  
A little black boy in a white gauze eyepatch leaned over the box, peering down curiously.  Then he looked up at Phil and nodded.    
  
"Awesome," Phil said.  "Let me introduce you."  
  
Phil set the box down and pulled Clint and Natasha out.  "Clint is the world's best archer and Natasha is the finest spy you could ever ask for.  But don't ever let them get separated because they're madly in love."  
  
Loki imagined Natasha would sneak a cringe at that.  
  
Hamm went out next, winking at Loki.  
  
"Hamm's a fantastic piggy bank," Phil continued.  "He'll keep your money safe for you, but he moonlights as the Evil Dr. Porkchop!"  
  
Then Phil's hand descended into the box again and grabbed Thor.    Coldness grew around Loki's hand as soon as his brother's grip broke away and Thor rose into the sunlight with Phil's fingers wrapped around his torso.  
  
"This is Thor, God of Thunder and Crown Prince of Asgard.  He's the bravest warrior in all the Nine Realms.  If you're ever in danger, just ask him to protect you and he'll be there."  
  
Once Phil finished explaining Thor, Loki's legs began to dangle in the air, and then Steve and Tony and Hulk and Peggy and all the other lay so far below him.  Mystique and Peggy waved.  Before he could think, Loki stood on the grass with Phil's hand clutching his waist.  
  
"And this is Thor's younger brother, Prince Loki.  Thor's a hero, but Loki's jealous and mean and when no one's looking, they call him Loki Liesmith because he's such a cunning and clever sorcerer.  He wants to kick Thor out and rule Asgard."    
  
Loki grit his teeth and listened to the entire spiel.  He'd grown accustomed to this after hearing so many variants of it during Phil's childhood, but did Phil really have to poison this child against him from the outset?  Suddenly, his body shifted to a much smaller hand.  Nick held Loki flat on his palm.  
  
"So why can't they just make up?  They don't have to fight," Nick said, running a finger down the curve of Loki's cape.  
  
"Well...I don't know.  They have to fight because that's the story."  
  
"Maybe they need a new story."  Nick's palm closed in around Loki and the little boy held him at his side.  
  
Loki listened as Phil brought the others out, though he could not watch from his present angle.  
  
"Hulk is the toughest beast around and he's great if you need a soft landing..."  Loki expected Nick to set him down so he could give Hulk a plush hug, yet the drop never came.  "...Mystique is an amazing shapeshifter.  One minute she's a blonde beauty and the next, she's _blue_!"  The click on Mystique's side rang out across the yard.  "...Peggy's kind of like Natasha, but she goes out in disguise a lot less.  But if you need someone who can think of a plan, you can count on her."  This was perhaps the most accurate of Phil's descriptions, in Loki's opinion.  "...And here are the Commandos!  Each of them has a different role, but they're all essential---"  
  
Loki glimpsed Nick's right arm reaching back for something.  
  
"They go with my Bucky!" Nick exclaimed.  Loki assumed he was holding the doll out for Phil to see.  
  
"Yeah, they do!  You know, I never got around to getting a Bucky, so I'm glad you've got one.  He completes them."  
  
Nick held Loki up next to Bucky as Phil reached into the box once again.

"Here's one more for you."  Phil wiggled Tony from side to side as he held him out.  "Iron Man isn't just a superhero.  Tony Stark is a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist---he's one of the smartest, craziest guys in the world.  If he thinks you have a great cause, he'll be completely loyal to you.”  
  
Nick nodded and set Tony down on the grass next to the other toys.  Loki began to wonder why Nick hadn't set him down yet.  Then Nick leaned over the box again, pushing Loki and Bucky against its dull edge.  Steve lay stiff and smiling at the bottom.  
  
"Captain!" Nick exclaimed, reaching down for Steve with his right hand.  "Bucky needs him, too!"  
  
Phil snatched Steve up and held him against his chest.  The motion looked harsher than he'd probably meant it to be, Loki decided.  Nick's uncovered eye grew wide, but he was not on the verge of tears.  Not yet.  
  
"Well, uh...you see..." Phil spluttered, twisting his hands around his Captain.  After a few moments of this, he relinquished Captain America to Nick.  "Captain Steve Rogers is not just a superhero: he's a super-soldier and a super-friend.  He's brave and smart and just about the perfect leader.  The other toys love him, and you should, too.  Steve will always listen to you when you get in trouble and when you do things right.  He also knows how to keep the closet monsters away.  He's up for any type of game anytime, but he also knows when to be serious.  You could never ask for a better toy than Steve."  
  
Phil turned Steve upward and smiled down at his old favorite.  His very favorite.   Phil gave him the kind of smile Loki knew he'd never receive.  Then he relinquished the Captain to Nick, who accepted it with a look of awe followed by a grin and a giggle.  
  
Nick set Steve and Bucky down and picked up the masked man, who was called Bane if Loki recalled correctly.  "Oh no!  The evil smoke monsters are attacking!  Only Loki's magic can keep them away!"  
  
"But then the dragons show up!" Phil interjected, grabbing Clint.  "So Hawkeye shoots them down, one by one!"  
  
"And Bane throws the others into a bunch of lava!"  Nick wiggled Bane and held Loki upside by his ankles.  This was growing all too familiar.  "But the biggest one yanks Loki away, so Hawkeye has to shoot him while Bane holds him still.  Then Loki can escape."  Nick dropped him, only to catch Loki in his right hand.  Loki ended up with a mouthful of mask in his face, but he did not mind as much as he once would have.    
  
The game went on and on, eventually involving hippogriffs, three-eyed aliens, a nuclear bomb hidden on Santorini, and a poisoned plate of prunes, among other things.  Loki could barely keep all the subplots straight, but he was fairly certain that by the time the sun began to sink beneath the trees, he'd had Tony's child, married both Natasha and Peggy, and divorced Bucky after a whirlwind double-agent courtship in Moscow.  Nick seemed far more intrigued by relationships and espionage than Phil had ever been, but Loki enjoyed his more spontaneous style.  Anyone could be good or bad at any given moment.  And he got to use his magic benevolently for once.  Loki did not care if it was just this once and he had to play villains forever thereafter because for one brief moment, he was an Avenger.  
  
Finally, Phil stood up, picked up the box, and patted Nick on the head.  Loki stood up to glimpse him one last time, as did everyone else, carefully keeping to edges of Nick's shadow.  The scampering, freckle-faced child who'd unwrapped Loki on that unseasonably warm Christmas Day had faded away somewhere in the middle of the afternoon.  Only a clear-eyed man remained.  
  
"Just keep having fun with them for me, okay, Nick?" Phil said as he stepped back.  
  
"Mmkay," Nick replied, waving.  "Thank you!"

"No, thank _you_."  Phil turned back and bent down toward Loki, Steve, and everyone else.  "I'll see you guys."  
  
Then Phil strode down the front walk as shades of purple blended with the sunset's pinks and oranges.  Just when he reached the end of the walk, Nick ran over to grab Hamm, Falsworth, and Lady Sif, whom he'd accidentally left on the lawn.  Loki watched Steve take the moment to salute.  
  
"So long, soldier," the Captain murmured.  He sighed and clutched Loki's and Tony's hand as the gate shut behind Phil and they listened to the minivan's rumbly awakening.  
  
"We made it," Tony said.  
  
An odd coldness twined together with a new warmth in the air around Loki's head.  "What do we do now?"  
  
"GO TO DISNEYLAND!"  The red-and-black figure, Deadpool, said as he launched himself on top of Loki and Steve.  
  
"He means we're very glad to have you all," Bane clarified.  "Unless that's his new code for 'I need a chimichanga'..."  
  
"Even if it is, you're still welcome here," Bucky assured them, pulling Steve and Loki back up.  "Nick's an energetic kid, so we can use all the extra toys we can get."  
  
"Yes, you're absolutely right, Sergeant," Bane agreed.  Then he turned to Loki.  "Remind me to give you the tour after Nick brings us upstairs."  
  
"Oh.  Alright then, I will."  Being noticed would take some getting used to.  
  
After that, they all mingled with Nick's toys.  Loki tried to hang back and observe, but Bane kept dragging him into the middle so that he bumped elbows with Deadpool, Lady Sif, and the old man doll, Magneto, who was much too fascinated with Mystique to pay any attention to a sorceror doll in a cape.  Deadpool gave Loki a hug and Sif squealed something about completeness when she saw him, but Bane was the one who could not leave his side.  
  
"I've heard you're an expert villain," Bane said, patting Loki on the shoulder.  "I often end up as an antagonist, though we all rotate to that position now and again.  Except for Bucky---he's always good, if I recall correctly.  Anyway, do you have any tips?"  
  
Loki nearly froze like a child had just discovered him.  "I...I don't know.  Not off the top of my head.  In truth, I never relished being a villain.  I found it remarkably tedious."  
  
"I believe those days are over, Your Highness.  Nick's taken quite a shine to you."  Bane slapped Loki on the back and turned to question Hamm about his slotted-pig existence.  
  
Thor grabbed Loki's hand and smiled at him.  "This boy already has so many warriors."  
  
"I can see that, brother," Loki replied.  
  
"And do you know what's strange?  For the first time, I no longer feel nervous about my own prowess."  
  
"That's wonderful, Thor."  
  
"Yes, it most certainly is."  Thor grinned again and drifted back into the crowd of toys.  
  
Loki decided that his brother might be on to something.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki adjusts to life with Nick. Plays are planned and tangos are danced.

 

For the first time that Loki could remember, Thor had been right. Loki waited for Steve to emerge as the perennial favorite, yet it never happened. Nick enjoyed the Captain and as far as Loki could tell, Steve loved his new companionship with Bucky, yet he never stole spotlight as he once did. So Loki waited for Nick to hold Tony up above all the rest, as Phil had done. But Iron Man proved to be more of a useful plot device in Nick's elaborate, ever-expanding games. Instead, Loki found himself on the good side more and more often. After all these years, someone actually saw him, as evidenced by Nick's drawings.

"Your helmet is three times larger than your head in this one," Magneto pointed out as they perused Nick's latest batch of drawings.

"And that's never happened to your helmet?" Bane remarked. "My mask is always twice the size of my head."

"Why are you upside down in this one, brother?" Thor asked.

"You're holding it upside down, you idiot!" Hamm told him.

Thor turned the picture around. "Ah, very nice!"

Mystique held out a drawing of herself. "He finally found the cerulean crayon! Now he just need to start using red-orange instead of scarlet."

"Yes, you look perfect, as always," Magneto assured her. Then he turned to Bane. "Weren't you going to ask them?"

"Ask us what, old-timer?" Hamm asked.

Magneto nodded towards Bane.

"Well, I hoped to ask each of you personally," Bane began, "but would all of you like to take part in our fall play?"

"Yes," Hamm said. "Is it Hamlet? It should be Hamlet."

"Ah, no. We've selected Julius Caesar. I shall perform the title role and Magneto shall play Casca, one of the conspirators." Bane turned to Loki. "Would you like to play Brutus?"

Loki took a step back. "I-I-I...really?"

"Of course."

"I'd love to."

"I thought we'd decided on Loki for Cassius," Magneto said, stepping forward. "He has the 'mean and hungry look'."

"But he has a touch of melancholy that's so fitting for Brutus in the last few acts," Bane explained. Loki told himself his knees weren't shaking.

"But we need a Cassius!"

"You'll just have to pick someone else! Gotham's Reckoning has spoken!" As Bane stamped his foot, the Joker jumped down from his windowsill.

"I'll be Cassius, you pretentious morons!" the Joker snapped.

"He is pretty mean and hungry," Hamm remarked. "But don't you guys have auditions?"

"We used to, but they always devolved into Bucky reciting the opening speech from Patton while Sif quoted The Princess Bride and Deadpool performed showtunes, complete with dance numbers."

Hamm raised his eyebrows. "Yikes. Uh, put my name in for Antony."

"Oh, Steve will most likely be Antony," Bane told him. "And Tony would make a fine Octavian. But we'll find a spot for you---it has a great many parts, you see."

Then Deadpool leapt down from the table. "Okay, as fascinatingly boring as this conversation is, you guys might wanna check out Antonio Tieso, El Hombre de Hierro!"

"Check out who the what?" Magneto asked.  
  
"Tin Man's Spanish mode!" the Joker hissed.  "You'd know that if you ever turned your Master Thespian mode off!"  
  
"Yeah, what he said," Deadpool added.  "You should watch him!  You'll learn to move your hips in ways the instruction manual doesn't know about!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm goin' with him," Hamm said.  Thor and Mystique nodded and started climbing up the chair.  Loki began to follow him, but a face-down piece of paper caught his eye.   "You comin', Loki-buddy?"  
  
"Yes, just a moment, Hamm."  Loki turned the paper over and found a large drawing of the Joker, his twisted mouth more exaggerated than Loki's helmet had been.  "Oh, I quite like this, Mr. J.  He's really captured your smile."  
  
The Joker yanked the drawing out of Loki's hand and stared at it for a few moments.  As he gazed at it, his half-melted mouth fell out of its perpetual sneer and into a small grin.  "You know, I think you're right, Rock Star.  Now get out of here and go watch Dancing with the Tin Man."  
  
Loki did so, but when he reached the table, he looked back down to the wood floor.  He thought he'd spy the drawing crumpled in a corner, but it was completely gone.  He glanced up and found the Joker back in his windowsill, sitting on a folded piece of paper.   
  
Then Antonio Tieso, El Hombre de Hierro, snaked his hand around Loki's waist and the next hour became a blur of twirls, spins, and mariachi music.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki, Tony, and Mr. J return to Sunnyside, and Bane pays his first visit. Diana is perplexed and Loki has a brilliant idea.

A week after the play discussion and the Spanish Mode Incident, Nick picked up Loki, Bane, and Tony, and dropped them into his backpack.  Loki hurtled down and landed on a day-old apple core.  Bane and Tony thudded on top of him before retreating to the corners.  
  
"I know exactly where we're going," Bane said, glancing up as Nick zipped the light away.  "But he's never taken any of us there before?  Why now?"  
  
"Maybe he wants to show us off," Tony suggested.    
  
"Maybe he proved himself to his fathers to get permission," Loki added.  
  
"Whatever the case, I do not know that I will survive this."  Bane shuddered.  
  
Tony patted Bane on the back.  "Of course you will, buddy.  We'll be with you."  
  
Bane glanced over at Loki with horror, forcing Loki out of his numb silence.    
  
"Bane," Loki began, "you helped defeat Batman himself.  We all saw it.  You are absolutely prepared to combat whatever Sunnyside Daycare throws at you."    
  
Bane flung his arms out.  "But he was isolated then!  This was the hub of his powers!  And his allies may still lurk in the shadows, if one of them has not already taken up his throne."  
  
"But we are _your_ allies and we've already made a full-scale escape from Sunnyside.  We could definitely do it again."    
  
"Or we could just crawl back into the backpack until it's time to go home," Bane suggested.   
  
"Practical but cowardly," Tony remarked.  
  
"No.  We take the Justice League," Loki insisted.  "Bane, your arms are twice the size of Superman's head.  You can withstand the Justice League."  
  
Bane gripped Loki's shoulders. "But I'm not like you!  The trip to the dump was my only adventure!  I have no experience with toys of this nature and magnitude of power!"  
  
Loki put his hands on top of Bane's.  "This is how you get experience."  
  
Bane took a deep breath and glanced up at the backpack's zipper seam.  Something rustled on the outside.  "I suppose your right."  Then he rolled his shoulders foward and looked straight at Loki.  "I trust you."  
  
Loki nodded.  Tony opened his mouth, but never spoke since the backpack lurched upward at that moment.  They were on their way.

Once they arrived, the three of them stayed with Nick until recess.  He held them out to his best friend Maria and a bespectacled boy known only as Sitwell.  
  
"I got these from this guy 'cause he got big, and there are lots more at home, but Dad and Pa only let me bring two," Nick explained.  
  
"And Bane!" Maria squealed.  "I love him!  His arms are so big!  I just wish his mask came off his face."  
  
"Yeah, I snuck him in," Nick said, grinning.  
  
"The robot guy is shiny and awesome," Sitwell remarked, tossing Tony in the air and catching him.  
  
Maria grabbed Loki.  "I like this guy.  He has weird, pretty hair."  
  
The three children handed Loki, Tony, and Bane back and forth, enthusiastically, but not roughly.  No teeth grazed Loki's face and no paint was shoved up Bane's or Tony's ears.  This was exactly how he'd imagine Sunnyside would be when he first entered it, but Loki was glad he didn't have to stay.  
  
When the children went to recess, all of the Caterpillar Room's toys poked their heads out, peering at Loki, Tony, and Bane.  Loki smirked up at them, as did Tony, but Bane took a different approach.  
  
"I am Bane, Gotham's Reckoning, and I will BREAK anyone who attempts to harm these two gentlemen.  IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?" he bellowed.  The room fell into a deadly hush for a few moments.  
  
"Oh no, it's Batman all over again!" the Harry Potter doll yelped, piercing the silence as he ran into the bathroom.  
  
"No, no, it's not!  Harry, wait!" Green Arrow called after him, following him into the loo.  
  
"Well, if it isn't Magic Man and Robocop!" the Chatter Telephone greeted, rolling out from the shadows.  His base still carried bruises from his session with Robin, but the little orange-red phone had gotten the dents pressed out of it.  
  
"I thought...I thought they broke you," Loki blurted out.  
  
"So did I.  Till I realized they didn't."  The Chatter Telephone rolled in a small circle.  "Good to see you, Magic Man.  If anyone could make it outta here, it'd be you, Robocop, and that Captain o' yours.  Where is he?  And who's the new guy?"  
  
"The Captain was not selected for this mission," Loki answered.  "Oh, and this is Bane.  Bane, this is, uh, the Chatter---"  
  
"Benny."  
  
"Ah, it's very nice to meet you, Benny," Bane said, patting the orange-red telephone.  
  
"You got spunk, Bane.  We need that in here."  
  
"Thank you, but I will not be staying.  I've heard too much about what goes on here at night."  Bane shuddered.  
  
"Actually, we've had a recently change of policy," said that melodic voice that haunted Loki's dreams.  He turned around and saw her.  Wonder Woman looked as perfect as ever.  
  
"Hello, Diana," Loki said flatly.    
  
"It's good to see you," she told him, reaching for his hand.    
  
Loki stepped back.  "Trying to turn things around, are you?"  
  
"Yes.  None of us was really happy with that pyramid scheme.  I don't even think Batman was happy."  
  
"That's 'cause he forgot how to be happy."  The Joker leapt down off one of the shelves.    
  
"You were the rustling I heard!  Did you stow away in one of the pack's out pockets?" Loki asked.  
  
"Yep.  Had to see what's happened to the old place now that _he's_ gone," the Joker said as he turned to Wonder Woman.  "So, Princess, I guess you're top dog now?  Or, rather, top---"  
  
"There is no top dog anymore!  Toys can come and go from any of the rooms as they please!  We dismantled the old system---"  She jerked her head back and gasped at the Joker's melted mouth.  "You're dead."  
  
"I keep hearing that.  Maybe one day it'll be truth."  
  
She reached out toward the Joker's mouth.  "Is that...Is that what he did to you?"  
  
"Didn't you watch him, Princess?"  
  
"No.  I refused to watch those sessions."  
  
Loki desperately wanted to believe her.  
  
"Whatever you say," the Joker sneered.  Then Tony slung his arm around the Joker's shoulders.  
  
"Hey, Mr. J, you should come with me.  I just spent the last five minutes convincing those My Little Ponies over there that you're real."  Tony dragged him away, but the Joker kept glaring daggers at Diana.  
  
That left Bane glancing back and forth from Loki to Diana.  "I...I suppose I should apologize to Harry Potter.  It was lovely to meet you, though, Diana."  Then he hurried away toward the bathroom.

"Well, he's certainly...interesting," Diana commented as she and Loki watched Bane leap over a series of jack-in-the-boxes on his way to the loo.  
  
"Yes, he's the most boisterous of Nick's toys, save perhaps Deadpool," Loki said.  "And despite the wizard boy's fears, Bane is not another Batman.  He's quite the opposite, actually."  
  
"I can see that."  
  
"In fact, he was mortified of coming here today after subsisting on Mr. J's horror stories for nearly a year.  I can't imagine what that did to the older ones."  
  
Diana looked away.  "The Joker always liked to exaggerate."  
  
"He told us that the hole in right foot came from when Green Arrow captured him and dangled him upside down in front of everyone.  Pure fantasy, I'm sure."   
  
Diana held her head up, but said nothing.  Loki looked behind her and glimpsed Robin gazing at them across the floor.  The bird caught Loki's gaze and scampered off squawking, taking refuge behind one of the shelves.  The joint attack with Steve on that lonely night had done some good then, Loki supposed.  
  
"You don't know.  You really don't," Diana said, turning back to Loki.  "Under Batman's regime, there was one rule: survive."  
  
"And you did that quite well."  
  
"Because he just happened to pick me!  I came here alone, bought and dropped into a box at a toy drive.  I didn't have anyone."  
  
Loki rolled his eyes.  "You were completely alone in a giant sea of toys just like you."  
  
"...Yes."  
  
Some strange anger welled up inside him at this.  "You could have risen up, you know.  But you were too drunk on your own authority and perks to consider the well-being of everyone who got shoved into The Box!  You had your chance to overthrow your dictator and you _failed_.  In the most miserable way imaginable.  It's quite a shame, considering it wasn't really so hard, in the end."  
  
"Yes it was!" Diana shouted.  The toys around them stopped where they were and stared at the two of them.  "We didn't have a Captain America to swoop in and tell it would be alright!  We didn't have an Iron Man to barrel through any obstacle.  And we didn't have a Loki to out-think any plan.  Don't you get it?  He kept us divided.  We're just learning to trust each other now!  And _you_ were the first person I hope I could consider a friend!"  
  
Loki stamped his foot.  "Right before you tossed me into the sand with the Lincoln Logs!"  
  
"Those weren't Lincoln Logs," Benny murmured from the edge of the circle that had formed around them.  
  
Diana clenched her jaw so hard it began to shake.  "I didn't want to.  I hated everything I did for him.  And I apologize.  To everyone."  She glanced around the circle.  "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'm sorry.  I am."  Then, to Loki's surprise, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.  "Everything I told you that first night was the truth."  
  
Loki stamped his foot.  "Right before you tossed me into the sand with the Lincoln Logs!"  
  
"Those weren't Lincoln Logs," Benny murmured from the edge of the circle that had formed around them.  
  
Diana clenched her jaw so hard it began to shake.  "I didn't want to.  I hated everything I did for him.  And I apologize.  To everyone."  She glanced around the circle.  "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'm sorry.  I am."  Then, to Loki's surprise, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.  "Everything I told you that first night was the truth."  
  
"I'm sure."  Loki turned around and pushed past the circle of toys and then climbed up the nearest shelf.  He sat down and pulled his knees against his chest as he watched the toys take their places for the end of recess.  He noticed that Diana stayed in her spot, but lay down and stared up at him, eyes wide, mouth turned down slightly.

Sometimes Loki wondered if that first evening had ever happened at all.  He had begun to assume he'd hallucinated it while he lay in the box.  His supposed time with Diana was simply too nice to have happened in this place.  But the look on her face suggested otherwise.  
  
Nick eventually discovered Loki on the shelf when he came back in, but Loki could not immerse himself in playtime like he'd become accustomed to doing of late.  Just as he began to believe in whatever Nick or Maria or Sitwell was putting him through, whether it be saving the world from a giant daisy-shaped bomb or marrying Tony in the middle of Candlestick Park, Diana's expression kept flashing in his mind, snapping him out of the game.  She never had this.  If she was indeed bought and donated, she never had one child to care for her.  She only knew sadistic power and she schemed and punished and carried out orders just to have maybe ten minutes with a child.  Just to have what she deserved from the beginning.  He'd spent so many years resenting a child for assigning him an unwanted role that he couldn't imagine having no role, no owner.  Perhaps Diana's deception hadn't been of her own volition.  Maybe she'd just been grasping for a tiny bit of something Loki had always had.  
  
When Nick began packing up, Loki snuck over to where Diana lay, still untouched, unnoticed.  
  
"Diana," Loki called to her.  "Diana."  
  
"What?" she hissed, refusing to move.  
  
"Diana, I'm sorry for my words earlier.  I realize I was bit harsh."  
  
He received no reply.  
  
"I've considered what you said," Loki continued, offering her his hand, "and I was wondering...would you like to come home with us?"  
  
"I think your kid might notice a new toy he didn't buy or take," she responded as Loki helped her stand up.  
  
"Ah, but I've planned around that.  It would require hiding you for about a week, but in the long run, it would suit you much more than Sunnyside does."  Loki explained his plan to her.  
  
She nodded and shrugged.  "Oh, okay, I mean, I guess it could work."  
  
"Yes, it will, but its success will depend on everyone's discretion."  
  
"But the Joker---"  
  
"I'll speak to him," Loki assured her.  "You won't have to see him too much anyway.  He mainly keeps to his windowsill."  
  
"Alright.  I think we can do this."  She took his hand and they climbed up into the backpack.  
  
"Good Luck, you two," Benny the Chatter Telephone called to them as they ascended.  They waved to him when they reached the top.  
  
"I don't need to say goodbye to anyone else," Diana said as she slipped into the backpack.  
  
"Loki, I believe we have an extra passenger," Bane remarked.  
  
"Yeah, pretty sure this was a three man pack," Tony added.  
  
"Well, she's coming with us.  Diana here has never had an owner," Loki explained.  
  
"Never?" Bane gasped.  
  
Diana shook her head.  
  
"No," the Joker protested from his outside pocket.  "No."  
  
"Yes."  Loki pushed against the Joker's pocket.  "You really think that every single toy is as ugly as you and Batman?  She was not solely responsible for your suffering.  In some ways, she may have suffered more.  She certainly suffered longer---you're the one Nick plucked from obscurity, after all.  That was incredible stroke of luck, Mr. J."  
  
The Joker did not reply.  
  
"I...thank you," Diana murmured.  
  
"Okey-dokey, Mr. Mischief, do tell us how you plan on getting her in," Tony said after a few moments.  
  
Loki grinned and squeezed Diana's hand.  "Well, the Fifteenth of September is almost upon us..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The toys prepare for Nick's birthday party and make room for some eccentric new additions to the group.

When September Fifteenth arrived, Loki, Bane, Tony, Steve, and Thor hauled the brightly-wrapped box out of the upstairs hall closet.  
  
"We'll take it from here," Bucky said, motioning for the Commandos to move forward.  
  
"Thank you, gentlemen," Loki told the Commandos as they pushed the box toward the stairs and lifted it up.  
  
"Anytime," Bucky answered, saluting.  
  
"Won't the party guests notice an extra present?"  Peggy asked, poking her head out of the bedroom door.  
  
"I doubt it," Loki answered.  "Most will assume the giver is another guest who forgot a card.  And even if his fathers begin to work it out, one will figure that the other bought it as a surprise."  
  
"But she's not in any packaging.  That will seem a bit odd."  
  
"Garage sales exist, dear Peggy."  
  
Peggy shook her head and slipped back into the bedroom.  
  
Just then, Steve pulled two walkie-talkies out of the closet.  "Ah-ha!  Even better than a baby monitor!"  
  
"Is all of this hullabaloo really necessary, Captain?" Bane asked Steve as they all wandered back to the bedroom door.  
  
"Well, you want to _know_ , don't you?"  
  
"Yes, but---"  
  
"Didn't you used to dread this?" Loki interjected, glancing at Steve.  
  
"Did I?"  
  
"Indeed.  I mean...that's how I recall it.  But it was an awfully long time ago."  
  
Steve nodded as they entered the bedroom.  "Yeah, it was."  
  
"I remember it quite clearly!" Thor proclaimed.  "Especially the part where Tony declared he was a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist."  
  
"Weren't you crying under the covers?" Hamm asked.  
  
"Yes, but 'twas still memorable."  
  
Tony covered his face with his hands.  "I cannot believe I said that."  
  
"Ha!  He was _that_ kind of new toy," Deadpool said, standing on his head.  
  
"What kind of toy?  I'm not any kind of toy," Tony spluttered.  
  
"You're not alone you know." Sif said from the table.  "Bane came out of his box ready to detona---."  
  
"Let's just move on and wait for the new arrivals!" Bane had squeezed his eyes shut.  
  
"Yeah!  What he said!" Tony agreed, poking his head out from behind Hamm.  
  
Everyone did so.  Steve made sure the Commandos received the second walkie-talkie and then all of Nick's toys scrambled to gather around the table.  
  
"'Scuse me!  Really Useful Engine coming through!"  Thomas the Tank Engine whizzed by, knocking Loki on his back.  "Whoops!  Sorry, Mr. Loki!"  
  
An old anger briefly welled up inside him, but Loki pushed it down.  "It's quite alright, Thomas."  
  
Percy rolled up to Thomas, wide-eyed.  "You knocked him over!  He's going to get us for this!"  
  
Loki picked himself back up.  "I am?"  
  
Percy shut his mouth and blinked.  
  
"Deadpool told Percy that you're a real-life God of Mischief who'll turn us into horses and do unspeakable things to us if we don't behave like Really Useful Engines," Thomas explained.  
  
"Really.  What kind of unspeakable things?"  
  
"I don't know," Thomas said.  "What _are_ unspeakable things?"  
  
"I don't believe either of you want to know."  Loki paused for a moment.  "I'm not sure even I know.  This is Deadpool, after all."  
  
Then Deadpool stood on top of the walkie-talkie.  "SHUT UP, EVERYBODY!  IT'S STARTING!"

They had to listen to ten minutes of children's shrieks and giggles and what sounded like some sort of cake fight before Nick decided to open his presents.  In the old days, Loki used to itch with angry anticipation if Steve turned on the baby monitor too early, but now he found he liked the silly noises.  He could not discern why, though.  Then his thoughts turned to Diana, hoping the confines of the shoebox weren't too overwhelming.  He tried to remember his own time in a box on the Christmas Phil unwrapped him, but he recalled nothing before the tiny metal twisties fell away from his legs.  He was about to turn to Thor to ask him, but the walkie talkie interrupted him.  
  
Bucky's voice crackled over the frequency.  "Nick's opening the first present now.  It's a long limp thing...Uh, we have a beach towel."   
  
"It's _September_!" Natasha cried, shaking her arms near her head.  
  
"Eh, probably a clearance item," Hamm said.  
  
"Geez, what a cheap kid," Clint grumbled.  
  
"Cheap parents, more likely," Magneto remarked.  
  
A few Hot Wheels and a Nerf gun later, Loki's ears perked up.  
  
"We have an action figure.  I think it's an action figure..." Bucky began.  Loki's legs began to shake and his toes tapped against the floor.  "We have...a man in green?"  
  
"Not a Green Lantern.  Not a Green Lantern.  I don't want a Green Lantern," Natasha chanted.  Loki noticed Peggy and Mystique nodding in time with her words.  
  
"HULK DON'T WANT MORE GREEN TOYS."  
  
"I wear green," Loki reminded Hulk, holding the corner of his cape up.  
  
"YOU OKAY.  BUT NO MORE.  OR ELSE IT BECOME CLICHE."  
  
"Alright, next present."  Bucky's voice crackled again.  "We have...we have...Ladies and Gentletoys, it looks like we have a Wonder Woman!"  
  
"Awesome!  Just like the one at daycare!" Nick's voice squealed on the walkie-talkie's other end.  
  
Loki's shoulders relaxed.  It had worked.  Somehow.  He'd never doubted the plan, but the actuality of its success took a moment to wash over him.   He listened to the rest of the list of presents and smiled to himself.  He'd never felt anything quite like this before---it was something light and bright and he couldn't quite grasp it.  Then the walkie-talkie ripped him from his thoughts.  
  
"This is the last present, folks!" Bucky said.  "It's Jane's present.  Nick's tearing through the paper, and---augh, they're all in the way---he's happy, but confused.  I think it might be a---it's a---possibly a---"  
  
"JUST TELL THEM ALREADY!!!"  Deadpool lunged at the walkie-talkie and sent it tumbling to the floor.  The batteries spilled out on the floor.  
  
"Whoa!  Deja vu!" Hamm exclaimed.  "Anybody else feel like the room's spinning?"  
  
Steve and Tony pushed the batteries back in and turned the walkie-talkie back on, but once again, they were too late.  
  
"He's comin', guys.  And he's brought company."

The walkie talkie stopped crackling and small footsteps pattered and pattered until they thundered up the steps and into the bedroom.  Everyone froze and Loki found himself passed through some seven pairs of hands, including Maria's and Sitwell's, before Nick set him on top of the table with everyone else.   
  
Nick put his three new action figures, including Diana, on the table.  He looked Loki in the eye.  "Look!  You guys got some new friends!"   
  
His friends giggled at this and started jumping around the room, so Nick followed suit.  The noise levels...weren't so bad, when Loki thought about it.  The dump's noise was unbearable.  This was oddly pleasant.  
  
In the midst of the madness, Nick plucked Loki, Steve, Bane, and Bucky off the table and held them close to his face.  "You guys don't have to worry 'bout the new guys, 'kay?"  
  
"Are you talking to your toys?" Maria asked.  
  
"Toys can't hear, you know!" Sitwell said as he tried to balance a basketball on his head.  
  
Nick set them down and smiled at the four of them.  "You don't know.  Maybe they do."  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
"Yuh-huh!"  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
After that, the whole group wandered back downstairs, "nuh-uh"-ing and "yuh-huh"ing the whole way.  As Loki sat up, he realized that the whole experience was much less blurry than Phil's parties used to be.  Perhaps these children weren't as fond of sugar?  Whatever the case, Loki couldn't worry about changes.  He had to check on Diana.  
  
Loki crossed the table to the spot where she lay and sat down beside her.  "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah," she replied, putting her arm around his shoulder.  "But for a while there, I didn't think I'd get unwrapped at all."  
  
"Well, that ordeal is over with, so I'd like you to meet...re-meet everyone."  He motioned to his friends.  "Everyone, this is Diana."  
  
Her smile softened with shades of melancholy.  "Hi...Look, everyone, I'm so---"   
  
Clint rolled his eyes.  "We know, we _know_.  Loki told us."  
  
"Just relax, lady," Hamm told her.  "We'll pardon ya like Nixon and get over it.  You're not the big, bad Bat, you know."  
  
"I...I supposed you're right," Diana sighed as she let go of Loki and stood up.  
  
"Uh, excuse me, but am I supposed to know you like she does?" a new voice asked.  A doll dressed in a green, question mark-covered suit and bowler hat pushed through the crowd of toys towards Loki.  The green man was neither a Lantern nor an Arrow. "I guess you're in charge here?"  
  
"Oh no," Loki began.  "It's really Steve---"  
  
"Yeah, you can go to Loki if you need anything," Steve said with a grin.  
  
"Oh, okay then."  The Green Man still look dazed.  
  
"Well, uh, it's very nice to meet you, Loki, and everyone."  
  
Loki shook the Green Man's hand.  "They'll introduce themselves as we go along.  And you are...?"  
  
"Edward Nygma.  They've been calling me the Riddler, but I don't know any riddles."  
  
"How about this," Hamm began.  "There once was a man from Nantucket---"  
  
"That's a limerick!" Natasha told him.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll help you," Bane offered.  
  
"Oh, thanks," the Riddler answered.  "I guess I'll have to figure this out as I go."  
  
"You can work it all out while Nick's marrying you to Deadpool," Tony said.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good...wait, what?" the Riddler's eyes grew wide.  
  
Before anyone could explain, a brunette brandishing a bow and arrow hollered and charged at Hamm.

"Can't get rid of these damn muttations!" Archery Girl shouted.  "First the giants and now oversized pigs?  What the hell kind of arena is this?"  
  
"Ma'am, I'll need you to stand down," Steve told her.  
  
Her mouth fell open as she gaped at Steve.  "Peeta?"  
  
Steve stepped back.  "Who?  I'm sorry, but I think you've mistaken me for someone else."  
  
Her face twisted with rage and she shouted at the ceiling.  "YOU GIVE HIM BACK NOW OR THE PIG GETS IT!!!"  
  
Hamm rolled his eyes.  "Or we're all just gonna get caught.  Nice, lady."  
  
"Madam, drop the bow and arrow and leave him be," Loki said.   
  
"Gale?  Oh my God, Gale!" She glanced from Loki to Diana.  "Looks like you got Johanna out."  
  
"You mean Diana," Diana corrected.  
  
"No, she really doesn't," Loki said quietly.  
  
"You guys go ahead.  I have to do this for Peeta.  I swore to protect him."  She let the arrow fly and it hit the wall behind Hamm.  As soon as it soared, Bane pounced on top of her.  "No, Boggs!  Get off me!  I don't care what Coin thinks!  I owe it to Peeta!"  
  
"Are we already in a role-playing session?" the Riddler asked.  
  
"We have entered into sheer madness," Thor said, stepping forward.  "My good lady, please cease this insanity immediately, for our sakes and your own."  
  
"Finnick?" Archery Girl asked, hugging Thor.  "Yes, it _is_ you!  You made it!"  
  
"Well, of course I did."  
  
"Oh, this is too good," Deadpool said, rubbing his hands together.  
  
"Haymitch?  How drunk are you right now?" she asked.  
  
"Super-drunk.  On life and meta, that is!"  Deadpool spun around and did two backflips.  
  
"I much prefer Gotham's Reckoning to this," Magneto said, rubbing his forehead.  
  
Archery Girl jerked her head back.  "Mags?  But you're _dead_!"  
  
"I am?  I must have forgotten."  
  
"Does anybody know who this girl is?" the Riddler asked, throwing his arms out.  
  
"I do," Loki answered.  He exaggerated his slow steps towards her.  It all flooded back to him---all those rainy days reading all that mediocre prose when Phil wasn't looking.  "Katniss."  
  
"Yeah, Gale?"  
  
Loki took her hand.  "Katniss, we're pawns in the Capitol's newest various on the Games.  You may keep your name, but you must call me Loki.  It's part of the rules.  And Finnick must be called Thor.  And the giant muttation will do as he pleases with all of us.  That's the game."   
  
"Why should I play along?"  
  
"Because they have Prim."  
  
Katniss began to shake.  "No, no, no...she's..."  
  
"I'm sorry, Katniss, but we're playing for her life.  Can you do this?  For Prim?"  
  
Katniss collapsed into Loki's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.  "I can.  I'll do it.  Until I think of a plan."  
  
"Good."  Loki patted her hair.  "You know I'll follow you.  You can do as you please until Nick, the giant, returns.  When he does, you have to freeze."  
  
"Got it. Thank you, Gale."  She stepped back and hopped down onto the floor.  A starry-eyed Clint followed her, bow in hand.  Natasha grumbled something about heartbreak and _Happy Days_ reruns and jumped down after him.  
  
"Well, I guess I know the rules now," the Riddler said.  "Without the lives at stake part, I guess."  
  
"That was..." Tony's voice trailed off.  
  
"Masterful," Diana finished.  "But why would you do that to her?"  
  
"It's what she wants to hear," Tony said.   
  
"She doesn't want to know she's a toy," Bane added.  "Not yet, at least."  
  
"Somethin' will knock the sense into her, though," Hamm said.  "It happened to those two."  
  
"Just don't beat it into her with her own limb, okay?" Tony announced.  
  
"Understood," Loki told him.

"Hey, Tony, you should introduce her to El Hombre de Hierro!" Deadpool suggested.  
  
"You know, Antonio's smooth moves are probably exactly what she needs," Tony agreed.  They both hopped down to the floor and Thor started up the mariachi music.  
  
"Well, it's nice to meet you all," the Riddler said.  "I'm just gonna go watch whatever El Hombre de Hierro is.  And think about riddles."  
  
As everyone moved along, Loki sat down on the edge of the table and watched the eccentricity below.  Just when Antonio got Katniss to dance, a hand rested on Loki's shoulder.  Steve sat down next to him.  
  
"I'm proud of you," Steve told him.  "You're not the toy you used to be."  
  
"None of us are."  Loki gazed at the Captain: his uniform's paint was chipping at the corners and his eyes weren't quite as bright as they were all those years ago.  But they still twinkled and his smile remained strong and sturdy.  "Thank you, Captain.  I didn't for that speech for Katniss to sound cru---"  
  
"It wasn't.  You did that your way.  The truth will hit her when the time is right.  I wish we'd known that back then."  
  
"I'm glad we know it now."  
  
The Captain smiled.  "Me, too."  
  
"I'm beginning to think we grow with them.  Perhaps we'll grow a little more with Nick this time around."  
  
Steve clapped Loki's shoulder again.  "You already are."  
  
Loki and Steve sat there, legs dangling, until Nick returned.  They watched as Antonio switched from Katniss to the Riddler to Diana and twirled each of them around until Thor tripped and knocked the batteries out of the CD/cassette player.  Loki glanced at Steve and laughed.  Even in this dizzying new normal, some things never changed.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [To Infinity and Beyond [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3852892) by [blackglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackglass/pseuds/blackglass)




End file.
